Winchester vs Dalek
by Chillmaster3000
Summary: The day the TARDIS lands in Henry Van Statten's museum is the same day the Winchesters decide to investigate rumors of a monster in his Cage.


"Dean, what are we doing here?" Sam asked in a hushed tone. They had broken into a secure facility in Utah, which Charlie had said was 'levels and levels of uber-classified stuff' when she'd gotten the blueprint of the place. It belonged to some rich guy named Von Stetson or something.

"Because there's something powerful and monster-y locked up in the basement," Dean replied in the same quiet voice. "It's ugly and it doesn't talk, so I'm thinking it's something we should check out."

"Dude, have you seen this stuff? I've never even read about anything like this!" Sam said, gesturing to the stuff encased in glass. He wasn't kidding- none of it looked familiar.

"If it's nothing, we'll just leave-"

"Oh, I don't think so." The lights came on, blinding them. Sam and Dean were surrounded by private soldiers clad in black body armor. "Drop your weapons and put your hands on your heads!" They did, Sam glaring at Dean as they did. Dean could only shrug as the men in the black took them captive.

"Attention personnel! Bad Wolf One descending! Bad Wolf One descending!"

The Winchesters were escorted to an office dominated by a portrait of the smug-looking asshat sitting in front of it. A kid with a British accent was handing him weird-looking… artifacts, Sam guessed you could call them. After Sam and Dean had been brought in, hands still on their heads as soldiers pointed guns at them, two other people were led in. One was a man in a leather jacket, a bit shorter than Dean with a big nose and bigger ears. The other was a girl, blonde, who couldn't have been much older than Kevin. They didn't have their hands on their heads. Probably hadn't been found with weapons on the twelfth floor down, Sam mused.

"And this is the last one. Paid eight hundred thousand dollars for it," the British kid said. Sam and Dean raised their eyebrows at the sum. For that little lump of metal?

"What does it do?" the asshat asked, taking it from the kid.

"Well, you see, the tubes on the side, they must be channel something, maybe fuel-"

"I really wouldn't hold it like that," the man in leather interrupted with a weird accent. Everyone in the room turned to him with surprise, including his smaller companion.

"Shut it," the skinny blonde woman in the suit said roughly.

"Really, though, that's wrong," the man in leather persisted.

"Is it dangerous?" the British kid asked.

"No, it just looks silly." The man in leather reached to take the object and the soldiers turned their guns on him. He froze. It would have been a good time to disarm the soldiers, but Sam and Dean exchanged a look and decided to let this play out. The asshat raised a finger to the soldiers and they stopped. The man in leather smiled at the asshat. The asshat stood and held the metal thing out to the man in leather, who accepted it gently.

"You just need to be…" The man ran his weathered fingers over the lobed metal. It glowed slightly and let out a sound similar to a violin. Sam's eyes widened. "Delicate." The man in leather looked back up to the asshat. Sam glanced at Dean, who had a silent 'what the hell' on his lips. The blonde next to the man in leather watched him carefully as he made it play a few more notes with a stupid grin on his face.

"It's a musical instrument," the asshat declared.

"And it's a long way from home," the man in leather added with admiration.

"Here, let me." The asshat leaned over and took the instrument out of the man in leather's hands. Sam thought the action incredibly rude, a sentiment clearly shared by the man in leather and his blonde companion.

"I did say delicate," the man in leather said with a wince as the asshat began to molest the instrument with his hands. The noise made the rest of them cringe "Reacts to the smallest fingerprint. Needs precision." Finally the asshat got the instrument to play notes instead of shriek noise. He smiled triumphantly.

"Very good," the man in leather said with a surprised grin. "Quite the expert."

"As are you," the asshat replied with an expression Sam knew well. This could get ugly fast. The asshat threw the instrument aside, causing mildly angry insult to flash across the man in leather's face. "Who exactly are you?"

"I'm the Doctor. And who are you?" the man in leather replied.

"No way," Sam blurted. The attention turned to him and he instantly regretted speaking.

"You know him?" the asshat asked.

"Well, yeah," Sam blustered as Dean watched with concern. "I mean, the Doctor's like…a legend when it comes to…alien stuff."

"Yeah. Yeah, who _hasn't _heard of the Doctor?" Dean added, scoffing. The asshat and the Doctor stared at them.

"Who are you then?" the asshat said.

"Oh, we're-"

"Sam and Dean Winchester," the Doctor said before Dean could come up with a convincing lie. Sam was shocked the Doctor knew their names.

"Oh, you know them?" the asshat said.

"They're working for me. I hired them through Rose here, which is why they're surprised to see me." The Doctor nudged his blonde friend, who nodded. "You can take the guns off them."

"Hired them for what?" the asshat said.

"We were supposed to look around," Dean said. "Never said for what." The asshat waved and the guns were put away. Sam and Dean lowered their hands.

"Really? And why are you pretending you don't know who I am?" the asshat said, turning back to the Doctor. "We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artifacts in the world, and you wanted me to believe you just stumbled in by mistake?"

"Pretty much sums me up, yeah," the Doctor replied. "Didn't mean to show up myself." The asshat walked around his desk.

"Question is, how did you get in fifty-three floors down with your little cat-burglar accomplice?" he said, looking down at Rose. She returned his gaze while giving Sam the impression she didn't think any more of the man than Sam did. The asshat looked back up to the Doctor. "Quite a collector yourself, she's rather pretty."

"She's gonna smack you if you keep calling her _she_," Rose replied with her own odd accent. Sam and Dean smirked.

"She's English too!" the asshat declared with a fake smile. He turned to the British kid. "Hey, little lord Fauntleroy, found you a girlfriend."

"The hell is a Fauntleroy?" Dean muttered.

"This is Mr. Henry Van Statten," the British kid said.

"And who is he when he's at home?" Rose asked.

"Mr. Van Statten owns the Internet."

"Excuse me?" Sam said.

"Don't be stupid, no one _owns_ the internet," Rose said.

"And let's just keep the whole world thinking that, right, kids?" the asshat said, fake smile turning into a devilish grin. Dean rolled his eyes.

"So you're an expert in just about everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don't understand, you lock up," the Doctor said. He seemed calm enough, but from what Sam knew of him, the Doctor couldn't be pleased.

"And you claim greater knowledge?" Van Statten said.

"I don't need to make claims. I know how good I am," the Doctor replied.

"And yet I captured you. Right next to the Cage." Dean leaned over to Sam.

"Told ya there was something locked up here," he muttered.

"What were you doing down there?" Van Statten asked.

"You tell me," the Doctor said. Sam had to admit, this guy had balls of absolute steel.

"The Cage contains my one living specimen. Which I guess is why you sent Thor and the Ken Doll over here, to find it." Van Statten gestured to Sam and Dean. Dean made a face.

"Dude, I am so not a Ken doll-"

"And what's that, your specimen?" the Doctor interrupted.

"Like you don't know."

"Show me."

"You wanna see it?"

"Blimey, you can smell the testosterone," Rose commented. Sam personally thought it sounded like the beginning of really bad gay porn, but he did like Rose's snark.

"Goddard! Inform the Cage, we're heading down," Van Statten barked. The skinny blonde nodded. Then Van Statten turned to the British kid. "You, English, look after the girl. Go and canoodle or spoon or whatever it is you British do. Take Ken with you. And you, Doctor with no name and your enormous friend…" Van Statten grinned and gestured to the door. "Come and see my pet." Sam and Dean looked at each other.

"Don't mention River," Sam muttered.

"Got it," Dean murmured back.

As they walked down to the Cage, the Doctor pulled Sam away from Van Statten.

"How'd you know about me?" he asked quietly. The large man didn't seem surprised at his question.

"How did _you_ know who I was?" Sam replied. Fair point, the Doctor supposed.

"I read the Winchester Gospel. Now answer me," the Doctor said.

"An old friend of mine and future friend of yours told me stories," Sam answered cagily. Fantastic. The Doctor hated it when his life happened out of order.

"Future friend? What makes you say that?" he prompted. Sam hesitated and studied him before answering:

"You have eyebrows."

"I lose my eyebrows in the future?" the Doctor said with a small amount of disbelief. Sam smirked as he turned to watch Van Statten.

"Not exactly, just a few regenerations later they're almost invisible," he said. Future regenerations. That was interesting. The Doctor wondered if Rose was still travelling with him then.

"This friend of yours, are they in the Winchester Gospel?" Sam shook his head.

"She's not in the ones I've read."

"It seems to me you miss her quite badly," the Doctor said. Sam turned to him, a familiar pain in his eyes.

"Yeah, I do," Sam admitted. "I haven't seen her in a while. She was important to me."

"I can see. You must have been a child when she told you about me," the Doctor observed. Sam nodded.

"I really shouldn't tell you too much. Spoilers, you know."

"I suppose," the Doctor agreed. "Van Statten! Tell me about your pet!" He wasn't quite sure he believed Sam Winchester, but he knew the man was good at heart. The Doctor didn't question Sam more because if the man really did know someone from the Doctor's future, too much information could create a paradox. The same applied to Sam asking the Doctor too many questions. The emotion in Sam's eyes when he spoke of his 'friend' made the Doctor think this person was probably family or an equivalent to a young Sam. He hoped the boy hadn't considered the Doctor a hero.

"We've tried _everything_," Van Statten said as they entered the Cage control room. "The creature has shielded itself, but there's definite signs of life inside."

"Inside?" Sam said.

"Inside what?" the Doctor asked. The Cage door started sliding over as a technician came to Van Statten.

"Welcome back, sir. I've had to take the power down, the Metaltron is resting."

"Metaltron?" the Doctor and Sam said in unison. The Doctor was reminded of the Cyber-head he'd found earlier.

"Thought of it myself. Good, isn't it?" Van Statten preened. Sam scoffed and Van Statten glared at him. "I'd much prefer to find out its real name."

"Here." The technician took his gloves off. "You'd better put these on. The last guy who touched it…burst into flames." He held out his gloves. The Doctor looked at them, then at Sam.

"We won't touch it, then," the Doctor said with a smile.

"Go ahead, Doctor. Impress me," Van Statten challenged. Sam shook his head. The Doctor held back a smirk as he thought of how easy it would be to blow the arrogant man's narrow little mind. He waved Sam along as he headed into the Cage. They walked inside the dark room and the door shut behind them.

"Damn," Sam muttered. "That's never good." The Doctor knew Sam was a hunter, and low light usually spelled disaster on a hunt. In the Doctor's case, it could be an advantage.

"Don't worry, I've got this," the Doctor assured him. Then the Doctor saw the rack by the door. He approached it to see several torture devices, which infuriated him. He didn't let that show, however, he moved on to the sole blue light on the opposite side of the room.

"Look, I'm sorry about this. Mr. Van Statten might think he's clever, but never mind him. We're here to help. I'm called the Doctor and this is Sam," the Doctor said.

"DOC…TOR?" The Doctor froze at the sound of the grating metal voice. No. No, it couldn't be. Sam looked at him with great concern.

"Doctor, what is it?" he asked. "Do you know what that is?"

"Impossible," the Doctor said quietly.

"THE DOC-TOR?" Lights flashed above the blue one with each syllable, revealing the outline of what the Doctor feared.

"It knows you?" Sam said. The lights in the Cage finally came on in full to show the hated thing, that awful metal beast, chained to the floor of the Cage.

"Oh, God," Sam breathed, terror laced in his voice. He knew about them too; they'd probably haunted his childhood nightmares. The Doctor grabbed Sam and yanked him towards the door.

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

"Let us out! Let us out!" the Doctor shouted. He and Sam banged on the door.

"EXTERMINATE!" There was no response from the door, which left the Doctor to conclude Van Statten was leaving them in the Cage with the most twisted creature the Universe had ever witnessed.

A Dalek.

Dean did not like being separated from Sam, Doctor or no Doctor. Sure, River may be married to the guy at some point, but if Sam was right, this Doctor hadn't even met her yet. Dean just had to hope whatever was in the Cage wasn't too bad.

"So, how do you know about the Doctor?" Rose asked as they went down to the British kid's office. He said his name was Adam, but Dean couldn't care less.

"A friend of my dad's knows him," Dean said. He figured that was general enough. What was the Doctor doing with a coed anyway? She couldn't be more than like twenty, and while she had some friggin incredible lips and a sweet ass, the Doctor had never struck Dean as a barely legal type.

"Oh yeah?" Rose said. She didn't trust him. "Who's that then?"

"You wouldn't know her."

"Then how do I know you're not lying to me?"

"Because I know about you, Rose Tyler," Dean replied. "You're a big deal to time traveler…conspiracies." He realized telling her River was a time-traveler was probably not smart.

"Am I?" Rose said, getting slightly excited. "Coz I'm with the Doctor?"

"Yeah, but it may have something to do with you being gorgeous." Dean winked at her. Rose smiled and her tongue touched her teeth for a second. Damn, that was hot.

"You're heading for a smack if you keep that up. I'm not so easy to distract."

"Oh, I've got better tricks, trust me," Dean answered.

"Oi! You!" Adam said, several steps ahead of them. They turned to see one of the men in black at a door. "What are you doing in my office?"

"Mr. Van Statten sent me," the man replied. There was something weird about this guy; it might have been the perfect American accent or the way he held his weapon. Dude was about as tall as the Doctor. Kinda looked like him too- bright blue eyes and sharp cheekbones. If they were on a chick, Dean woulda said they were smoking, but this was a dude and there was something kinda off about him. The label on his uniform said Watson.

"Sent you to do what? I'm just cataloguing down here," Adam said, miffed.

"Of course you are," the dude answered. Dean raised his eyebrows; clearly Watson thought Adam was up to something.

"Do I know you?" Rose asked.

"I don't think so," Watson replied.

"Well, you'll just have to wait out here. No one's supposed to be in there without my permission," Adam said.

"Yes, sir," Watson said with a slight sarcasm. Adam scowled and let Rose go in first. Dean gave Watson one last once-over before following her. He had the funny feeling Watson was watching him especially carefully.

"YOU ARE AN EN-E-MY OF THE DA-LEKS, YOU MUST BE DES-TROYED!" the Dalek shrieked. Sam and the Doctor gave up banging on the door. Sam pushed the Doctor behind him; if the Doctor died here, he'd never meet River.

The Dalek. Oh, God. Sam had hated those stories as a kid. River had told him how evil those things were, how purely genocidal they were. A younger Sam had been terrified, because there was almost no way to kill them. Current Sam still had nightmares, only now they featured Lucifer controlling the Daleks. That was a beautiful combination of psychopathy, elitism, and evil.

The Dalek's firing arm moved slightly. Sam shut his eyes, waiting for it to fire. After a moment of clicking sounds and no painful death, Sam opened his eyes to see the Dalek jiggling the firing arm with no result. He heard the Doctor laugh slightly.

"It's not working!" the Doctor said triumphantly. He let out a hearty laugh, which scared Sam as much as it relieved him. The Doctor moved away from Sam as he continued to celebrate in a way Sam found very unlike what River had described. "Fantastic! Oh, _fantastic_!" His face became serious. "Powerless! The great space dustbin! How does it feel?" The Doctor advanced on the Dalek, which retreated.

"STAY BACK!" it screeched. The Doctor ran at it, his face stopping right in its eyestalk.

"What for! What are you going to do to me?"

"Doctor, don't taunt it," Sam said. The Doctor's face became angry and he paced around the Dalek, whose eyestalk swiveled to follow him.

"Don't you see, Sam? If it can't kill-" The Doctor leaned in towards the Dalek. "What are you good for, Daa-lek? What's the _point_ of you?"

"Doctor-"

"You're nothing!" the Doctor declared to the Dalek. Then he calmed slightly, becoming stonier. "What are you here for?"

"I AM WAI-TING FOR OR-DERS!"

"What does that mean?" Sam asked.

"I AM A SOLD-IER. I WAS BRED TO REC-EIVE OR-DERS."

"Well, you're never going to get any. Not ever," the Doctor said, the smile coming back.

"I DEMAND OR-DERS!"

"They're never gonna come! Your race is dead! You all burned, all of you. Ten million ships on fire. The whole Dalek race wiped out in one second!" the Doctor replied.

"YOU LIE!"

"I watched it happen. I _made _it happen!" the Doctor declared viciously.

"YOU DES-TROYED US?" For a mechanized voice, the Dalek sounded very incredulous. Or was it shock? The Doctor paused and turned away. He looked at Sam and tore his gaze away quickly to look at the wall beside Sam.

"I had no choice," he said, his voice quieter and softer. His face was filled with guilt and regret, an expression Sam knew well.

"AND WHAT OF THE TIME-LORDS?" The Dalek had also, surprisingly, quieted.

"Dead," the Doctor admitted, barely audible. "They burned with you. The end of the last great Time War. Everyone lost."

"AND THE COW-ARD SUR-VIVED?" the Dalek accused. Something in Doctor shifted as he started to smile ferally.

"Oh. And I caught your little signal," he said like he was talking to a child. "Help me. Poor little thing." Then his face dropped again. "But there's no one else coming coz there's no one else left."

"I AM A-LONE IN THE UN-I-VERSE," the Dalek said, eyestalk drooping. What? The Dalek was acting like it had feelings. That can't be right.

"Yep," the Doctor agreed, smile returning.

"SO ARE YOU." The Doctor's smile disappeared. "WE ARE THE SAME." The Doctor charged the Dalek.

"We're not the same! I'm not the…" The Doctor trailed off as he gazed into the eyestalk. Then the manic, disturbing grin returned. "No, wait, maybe we are…" He started to back away. "Yeah. Right. Yeah, okay. You've got a point. Coz I know what to do. I know what should happen. I know what you deserve." He paused, the smile growing wider and more manic. "Exterminate!" Sam realized too late what was going to happen and his eyes widened.

"Wait, Doctor, don't-"

The Doctor yanked a lever on the control panel and electricity surged into the Dalek. It shrieked, a terrible mechanical grating that sounded like a key running down piano wire.

"Doctor! What the hell?" Sam shouted.

"HAVE PI-TY!" the Dalek cried.

"Why should I? You never did!" the Doctor replied. Then he went to crank up the lever. Sam raced over and grabbed him. "What the _hell_ are you doing?"

"Stopping you from proving you're as bad as he is!" Sam growled, pulling him away. The Doctor still managed to move the level as Van Statten's people entered. Sam and the Doctor were forcibly removed from the room.

"I saved your life, now talk to me, dammit, talk to me!" Van Statten ordered.

"You've got to destroy it!" the Doctor shouted. He struggled against Sam and the men in black. Van Statten continued to yell at the Dalek, but it didn't make a sound.

"Make it talk again, Simmons. Whatever it takes." Sam heard the cool command and got a really bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Why had he let Dean talk him into coming here?

"Sorry about the mess," Adam said as they got into the working part of the office. "Mr. Van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing, so long as I deliver the goods." Rose and Dean looked around at all the weird alien shit. Sam would have a field day in here, Dean thought.

"What do you think," Adam said loudly. They turned to see him holding a lump of metal. Great, more alien show and tell from the resident nerd. "that is?" He handed the object to Rose.

"A lump of metal?" she suggested. Dean smothered a laugh.

"Well, yeah," Adam said. "But I think- I'm almost certain it's from the hull of a spacecraft."

"Spacecraft?" Dean tried not to look too interested, but damn, who wouldn't be interested in a spacecraft? Dean had wanted to be an astronaut for a little while when he was a kid- River's stories of space had inspired that. Adam ignored him to lean across the table towards Rose.

"The thing is, it's all true. Everything the United Nations tries to keep quiet. Spacecraft, aliens, visitors to Earth- they really exist," he said like he was dropping a major bomb on Rose. She seemed less than shocked.

"That's amazing," she said like he'd just told her math was fun.

"I know it sounds incredible, but I honestly believe the whole universe is just teeming with life."

"I'll bet you do," Dean said, leaning against the wall. Rose tossed him a short glare before turning back to Adam.

"I'm gob-smacked, yeah." She dropped the fake-surprise. "So you do what, sit here and catalogue it?" Adam straightened up and put on his best 'happy' face.

"Best job in the world," he crowed.

"Oh, yeah, sitting in a dusty basement with weird metal crap. A real dream job," Dean said, getting himself another glare, this time from Adam.

"But imagine if you could get out there," Rose said to Dean, turning her head like the little flirt she was. "Get out among the stars and see it for real." Dean smirked.

"I don't fly, Baby Spice, sorry."

"I'd give anything," Adam piped up. "But I don't think it's ever gonna happen, not in our lifetimes."

"Oh, you never know," Rose said with a smile. She started playing with some of the junk. "What about all those people who say they've been inside of spaceships and things, and talk to aliens?" Dean had to stop himself from laughing out loud. Half those people were abducted by fairies and the others were just crazy.

"I think they're nutters," Adam said.

"I second that," Dean agreed. Rose paused.

"Yeah, me too." She laughed and Adam joined her. Dean watched her though. There was something in that pause, he was sure of it. "So how'd you end up here?"

"Van Statten has agents all over the world looking for geniuses to recruit," Adam answered smugly.

"You're a genius?" Dean said.

"Sorry but yeah. I can't help it. I was born clever," Adam continued. He leaned conspiratorially towards Rose. "When I was eight, I logged onto the US Defense system- nearly caused World War III." Rose and Dean exchanged a look. Dean crossed his arms.

"What and that's funny, is it?" Rose asked.

"Well, you should have been there! Just to see them running about! Fantastic!" Adam declared. Rose smiled and looked away.

"See, I was thinking sort of psychopathic," Dean replied. Adam frowned at him.

"Well, I wasn't asking you, was I?"

"You realize you coulda killed _billions_ of people, right?" Dean said.

"I didn't, I made sure it didn't get that far," Adam said.

"You shouldn't have risked it in the first place," Dean said. Rose looked at him.

"You sound like the Doctor," she said.

"That a bad thing, sweetheart?" Dean asked. Rose shook her head.

"The Doctor. Are you and him…?" Adam didn't even have the balls to ask it properly.

"No, we're just friends," Rose said, glancing at Dean.

"Good," Adam said. Oh, God. Show a kid a hot girl and bam. Instant moron.

"Why is that good?" Rose asked.

"Just is," Adam said, smiling shyly. Dean rolled his eyes. Rose resisted the urge, though she did make a face when Adam wasn't looking.

"So," she said, regaining her composure. "Wouldn't you rather be downstairs? I mean, you got the bits of metal and stuff, but Mr. Van Statten's got a living creature down there." She walked to Adam, gesturing towards a monitor. Dean saw what she was doing and he approved of her methods. No wonder the Doctor liked her.

"Yeah. I did ask, but he keeps it to himself," Adam said. Rose moved closer to him, turning the charm on high. "Although, if you're a genius, it doesn't take long to patch you in on the comm system." Dean scoffed. This kid was way full of himself.

Dean heard something else under the sound of Rose getting what she wanted and went to go investigate. He saw the Watson dude from outside rifling through a bin. Watson grabbed something and looked up. He spotted Dean and froze. Then there was a mechanical scream from Adam's monitor, getting Dean's attention.

"It's being tortured!" Rose exclaimed. Dean turned back to stop Watson, but he was gone. "Where's the Doctor?"

"I dunno," Adam answered.

"Take me down there now," Rose commanded, heading for the door. "Dean, come on."

"Rose, wait a minute-"

"You're working for me, so you do what I say, Dean!" Rose stormed out. Dean swore under his breath.

"This chick is gonna get me killed, I know it."

The Doctor was making a conscious effort not to shake.

He was furious. Just absolutely furious. How could a Dalek survive? How could it have escaped the Time Lock? If it could escape, were there more? Had any Time Lords escaped? How could he have left any gap for either to escape? In all honesty, the Doctor was furious at himself more than anything else. He should have killed it before, instead of making such a fool of himself. At least Rose didn't see it. It would have been hard to explain to her. Sam had, though, and now the Doctor could hardly look at the man. Sam had been horrified by the Doctor's actions, the Doctor could tell. Now Sam seemed disappointed and confused by the Doctor. It was not something the Doctor needed right now.

"The metal's just battle armor. The real Dalek creature's inside," the Doctor said as they all boarded the elevator.

"What does it look like?" Van Statten asked.

"A nightmare. It's a mutation. The Dalek race was genetically engineered. Every single emotion was removed except hate."

"Genetically engineered," Van Statten mused happily. "By whom?" The Doctor dared to look at Sam, who was staring at Van Statten like the man had grown a second head. He was as disturbed as the Doctor by Van Statten's reaction.

"By a genius, Van Statten, by a man who was king of his own little world," the Doctor said. "You'd like him."

"It's been on Earth for over 50 years. Sold at private auction, moving from one collection to another," Goddard said, crossing the elevator. She turned to look at the Doctor. "Why would it be a threat now?"

"Because I'm here," the Doctor replied. "How did it get to Earth? Does anyone know?"

"Records say it came from the sky like a meteorite. It fell to Earth on the Ascension Islands, burnt in its crater for three days before anyone could get near it, and all that time it was screaming. It must have gone insane," Goddard said, giving the Doctor a cool look.

"How could that have happened anyway? I thought all the Daleks were destroyed," Sam said. The Doctor turned to him.

"Must have fallen through time. The only survivor."

"You talked about a war," Goddard prompted.

"The Time War," the Doctor answered, meeting her gaze. "The final battle between my people and the Dalek race."

"But you survived too," Van Statten added. The Doctor glanced at him with suspicion.

"Not by choice."

"This means the Dalek isn't the only alien on Earth, Doctor, there's you," Van Statten said. "The only one of your kind in existence." The Doctor did not like the sound of that. Suddenly he was being pushed back and Sam was in front of him.

"Don't even try it," Sam snarled. The Doctor couldn't help the shock he felt at Sam protecting him. Before, in the Cage, he'd understood; a hunter always put himself before others when facing a monster. Now the Doctor had showed Sam a terrible side of himself and Sam was still shielding him. Either the man was crazy or he still believed in the Doctor.

Van Statten nodded to one of the men in black. There was a whizzing sound and Sam frowned. He reached up to his neck before collapsing in front of the Doctor.

"What have you done to him?" the Doctor demanded, dropping to examine Sam.

"Mild sedative. Shouldn't have any permanent damage," Van Statten said. "Come, Doctor, let's get you situated somewhere more useful…"

Sam woke when bright lights came to life before him. He heard a squeaking sound and a grunt of pain. His eyes opened to see the Doctor strung up on a lab table, shirt and leather jacket gone, and a big white device pointing at his exposed chest.

"Doctor!" Sam shouted. He tried to run over and help, but he was restrained with rather heavy handcuffs.

"Oh, look, Thor's awake," Van Statten drawled from behind the machine. "Now smile, Doc!" The device went off, bathing the Doctor in red light. The Doctor squirmed in obvious pain as the light ran over his body.

"Two hearts! Binary vascular system! Oh, I am so going to patent this!" Van Statten clapped his hands in delight.

"You think this is a game?" Sam said.

"That's his secret, Sam. He doesn't just collect this stuff, he scavenges it," the Doctor accused.

"This technology has been falling to Earth for centuries. All it took was the right mind to use it properly," Van Statten agreed.

"And that's you?" Sam said with a sneer. Van Statten smiled.

"Oh, the advances I've made from alien junk. You have no idea, Winchester. Broadband? Roswell. Just last year, my scientists cultivated bacteria from the Russian crater and do you know what we found? The cure for the common cold," he declared, walking up to the Doctor.

"And you just kept it to yourself? What sort of selfish dick are you?" Sam said.

"No need to get people excited, Thor," Van Statten said. "Why sell one cure when I can sell a thousand palliatives?"

"Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten?" the Doctor said quietly. Van Statten paused. "A Dalek is honest. It does what it was born to do, for the survival of its species. That creature in your dungeon is better than you."

"In that case, I will be true to myself, and continue," Van Statten replied. He went back to the machine.

"Listen to me! That thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!" the Doctor pleaded.

"Nothing can escape the cage," Van Statten answered. He turned the machine on again. The red light returned and the Doctor convulsed in pain.

"But it's woken up! It knows I'm here! It's gonna get out!" The Doctor cried. "Van Statten, I swear, no one on this base is safe, no one on this planet!" The red light came on again and the Doctor couldn't hold back the yelps of pain.

"How stupid are you? Stop hurting him and listen!" Sam shouted. Van Statten just rolled his eyes and continued.

Dean followed Adam and Rose in the door marked Cage.

"Wait right there!" One of the men in black came up to stop them. Adam flashed a badge at him

"Level 3 Access, special clearance from Mr. Van Statten." Kid walked right into the Cage. Maybe he did have balls. Rose and Dean entered the Cage. Dean froze when he saw the big metal thing before him. Sure, he'd never see anything like that in his life, but why were there chills running down his spine?

"Don't get too close," Adam warned. Rose approached it anyway.

"Son of a bitch," Dean muttered. He walked up with her. She leaned right in the metal thing's eye…stalky…thing and Dean put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hello?" Rose said softly. "Are you- are you in pain?" She didn't get an answer. "My name's Rose Tyler, I've got a friend who can help, he's called the Doctor. What's your name?"

"YES." The voice that came out of that thing sounded like radio static. Dean nearly jumped.

"What?" Rose asked, oblivious to Dean's reaction. The eye-stalk lifted and Rose's gaze followed.

"I AM IN PAIN. THEY TOR-TURE ME. BUT STILL THEY FEAR ME. DO YOU FEAR ME?" the thing asked.

"No," Rose answered. The eye-stalk drooped.

"I AM DY-ING," the thing said.

"Good riddance," Dean muttered.

"Dean!" Rose scolded, pulling away. She turned back to the thing with sympathy. "We can help!"

"I WEL-COME DEATH," the thing said mournfully. Its voice, despite being mechanized, became incredibly pitiful. "BUT I AM GLAD- BE-FORE I DIE- I MET A HU-MAN WHO WAS NOT A-FRAID." Dean had seen this routine a thousand times. The thing was playing Rose- but why?

"Isn't there anything I can do?" Rose said.

"MY RACE IS DEAD. I SHALL DIE A-LONE." Ok, this was sounding like a last-night-on-Earth speech, but Dean had his doubts about a big tin robot wanting to get laid. Rose's mouth worked for a minute and then she reached out to the thing. Dean saw it too late.

"Rose, no!" Adam cried. Rose's hand made contact and there was a sizzling noise. Dean yanked her away from the thing as it began perking up. He saw a glowing print where Rose's hand had been. Dean and Rose continued their retreat as the thing began screeching victoriously.

"GEN-ETIC MA-TERI-AL EX-TRAP-O-LAT-ED. IN-ITI-ATE CELL-UL-AR RE-CON-STRUC-TION!" The chains holding the thing back began snapping as it shook. It started sparking.

"That's it, we're getting out! Come on, Fauntleroy!" Dean grabbed Rose and Adam to shove them out the door. The tech in orange came in with some kind of gun.

"What the hell have you done?" he said. As they exited, Dean heard the tech say something about being suckered to death. Then there was a scream and Dean turned to see the tech literally being suckered to death by the plunger. _Irony's a bitch_, Dean noted as he rejoined Rose and Adam.

"It's killing him! Do something!" Rose said.

"Rose, next time we leave the creepy metal alien alone, okay?" Dean said while the soldier in black called for a condition red.

Back in the torture room, Sam heard the PA scream 'Condition Red.' Fear flashed on Van Statten's face. The Doctor, covered in sweat from the painful scanning, looked up at Van Statten calmly.

"Release me if you want to live."

After having his clothes returned and Sam freed, the Doctor raced out of the elevator into Van Statten's office. He saw Rose, Adam, and Dean on the monitor on the wall.

"You've got to keep it in that cell!" the Doctor said.

"Doctor, it's all my fault," Rose said, coming over. Dean and a man in black joined her.

"It's mine, I shouldn't have let you get that close," Dean said.

"I've sealed the compartment. It can't get out," the man in black said. "That lock's got a billion combinations."

"Dalek's a genius, it can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat," the Doctor said.

"Son of a bitch," Sam muttered.

"Wait, a Dalek? As in the genocidal pepper pots?" Dean asked.

"You knew what that thing was?" Rose said.

"Now I do. Doc, how do you kill a Dalek?" Dean said. The Doctor shook his head.

"I don't think we've got anything on hand-" The console on the Cage door began clicking like someone was unlocking it. The people outside began to back away. The soldier in black and his female partner stood in front of the others as the door to the Cage opened. Dean started pulling Rose and Adam away.

"Open fire!" the man cried. They started shooting, making Rose and Adam jump behind them. The Dalek continued to advance.

"Don't shoot it! I want it unharmed!" Van Statten yelled.

"Rose, get out of there!" the Doctor shouted. They'd already disappeared from his view. The Dalek turned to the monitor and came closer. Those watching backed up unconsciously. The manipulator arm of the Dalek reached out and smashed its screen. Their feed went blank.

As the Dalek came closer, Dean found himself almost as scared as when he'd shot Lucifer in the face and the dick had the nerve to not die. The soldiers in black ran out of ammo, but the Dalek turned away from them while they reloaded.

"DiMaggio! Take the civilians and get them out alive, that is your job, got that?" the man in black said to the woman.

"You, with me!" The woman led them away as the man resumed shooting pointlessly at the Dalek.

"He does realize that's not working, right?" Dean said.

"What choice does he have?" DiMaggio replied.

Sam, the Doctor, and Van Statten watched Goddard furiously work on the console as the lights flickered.

"We're losing power. It's draining the base," she said. "Oh my God. It's draining the power from all of Utah."

"It's downloading," the Doctor said grimly.

"Downloading what?" Van Statten asked.

"My guess is the Internet," Sam replied.

"Sir, the entire west coast has gone down!" Goddard exclaimed.

"Sam's right. The Dalek isn't just absorbing power, it absorbed the entire Internet," the Doctor said. "It knows everything." There was a beeping from the computer. Goddard turned to them.

"The cameras in the Vault have gone down," she reported.

"We've only got emergency power. It's eaten everything else," the Doctor said, standing straight. He turned to Van Statten. "You've got to kill it now!"

"How?" Sam asked. Goddard didn't wait for an answer.

"All units to converge on the Metaltron Cage immediately!" she ordered into her earpiece.

DiMaggio, Rose, Adam and Dean raced down the hallway towards more soldiers.

"Civilians, let em through!" DiMaggio shouted. As they ran through, Dean heard the man in black running up. He shouted orders at the soldiers until there was a zap noise and a scream. The soldiers began to lay down suppressive fire.

"Oh, God, is he dead?" Adam asked.

"They're all dead! They're not gonna hurt a metal lump with bullets!" Dean replied. More screams and more zaps proved Dean's point. Rose muffled a cry as they continued running.

"Tell them to stop shooting at it!" Van Statten shouted.

"It's killing them!" Goddard replied.

"They're dispensable! That Dalek is unique!" He took the PA microphone. "I don't want a scratch on its bodywork, do you hear me? Do you hear me?" The last sounds of gunfire faded.

"I don't think you need to worry about the Dalek," Sam answered. "Those men are all dead now, Van Statten, are you happy?"

"Miss Goddard, can I see a map of the building?" the Doctor asked. Goddard nodded and pulled one up on the computer.

"That's us, right below the surface. That's the Cage and that's the Dalek," she said, pointing to a glowing dot on the map.

"This museum of yours, does it have any alien weapons?" the Doctor asked.

"Lots of them, but the trouble is the Dalek's between us and them," Goddard said.

"Figures. No chance Dean and Rose could get to them?" Sam suggested.

"Probably not."

"We've got to keep that thing alive," Van Statten insisted. "We could seal the entire Vault, trap it inside-"

"Leaving everyone trapped with it? Rose is down there, I won't let that happen. Have you got that?" the Doctor said sharply. Van Statten stepped away.

"It's got to go through this part here, right?" Sam asked, looking at the map. "What's in there?"

"Weapons testing," Goddard answered. Sam looked up at the Doctor.

"Give guns to the technicians, the lawyers, everyone. Anyone. Only then have you got a chance of killing it," the Doctor said.

DiMaggio led them to a stairwell and Rose nearly cried in relief.

"Stairs! That's more like it! Hasn't got legs, it's stuck!" she exclaimed.

"It's coming! Get up there!" DiMaggio ordered. The four hurried up the stairs as the Dalek approached. They stopped two flights above the Dalek.

"Whoa, no stopping! Let's keep moving," Dean insisted, tugging on Rose's arm.

"But it can't get up here!" Adam said. The Dalek observed the stairs in front of it and Adam smirked. "Great big alien death machine. Defeated by a flight of stairs." The Dalek turned to look at them.

"No gloating. Let's move," Dean said again.

"Now listen to me," DiMaggio said, pointing her gun at the Dalek. "I demand you return to your Cage. If you wanna negotiate, I can guarantee Mr. Van Statten will be willing to talk."

"Negotiate? It's a friggin robot! Daleks don't negotiate!" Dean argued in a hushed voice.

"I accept that we imprisoned you and maybe that was wrong," DiMaggio said, ignoring Dean. "But people have died! And that stops right now. The killing stops, have you got that?"

"That's what it wants, you moron! Daleks are bent on destroying humanity!"

"I demand that you surrender, is that clear?" DiMaggio said. Dean threw his hands in the air.

"Why do I even bother?" he muttered. "No point in saving people this stupid."

"EL-EV-ATE." The Dalek started levitating.

"Oh my God," Rose murmured.

"Now can we keep moving?" Dean shouted.

"Yes. Get them outta here," DiMaggio ordered. Rose grabbed the woman's shoulder.

"Come with us, you can't stop it!"

"Someone's gotta try. Now get out!" She shoved Rose away. "Don't look back, just run!" Dean pushed Rose and Adam forward, and they ran up the stairs into a hallway. They heard DiMaggio fire at the Dalek several times before the zap and the scream heralded her end. Rose and Adam dared to look back.

"Keep moving!" Dean commanded.

"I thought you were the great expert, Doctor," Van Statten said. Sam lifted his head from the chair to give Van Statten the bitch-face. There wasn't much for either man to do at this point, so Sam had taken a seat and Van Statten was complaining. "If you're so impressive, why not reason with this Dalek?"

"You can't _reason_ with a Dalek," Sam said. "It's a robot programmed for _genocide_."

"It must be willing to negotiate, there must be something it _needs_. Everything _needs_ something!" Van Statten countered. Sam rolled his eyes.

"What's the nearest town?" the Doctor asked from his seat at the computer.

"Salt Lake City," Van Statten answered.

"Population?"

"One million."

"All dead," the Doctor replied. "If the Dalek gets out, it'll murder every living creature. That's all it needs."

"_But why would it do that_?" Van Statten shouted. He was starting to lose any grip with the situation he might have had to start with.

"Because it honestly believes they should die," the Doctor answered calmly. "Human beings are different, and anything different is wrong. It's the ultimate in racial cleansing, and you, Van Statten, you've let it loose!" The gravity of the situation finally hit Van Statten. Sam was sure the man was going to pee himself. The Doctor took the PA system.

"The Dalek's surrounded by a force field. The bullets are melted before they even hit home. But it's not indestructible. If you concentrate your fire, you might get through," he ordered. "Aim for the dome, the head, the eyepiece. That's the weak spot."

"Thank you, Doctor, but I think I know how to fight one single tin robot," the voice on the other end replied.

"We're doomed," Sam declared in a glum voice.

The three runners entered a room full of men with guns. Adam and Rose skidded to a stop, making Dean stop before he ran into them.

"Hold your fire!" one shouted. "You three, get the hell out of here!" Adam and Rose started running again, only to stop at the door.

"What did I say about stopping?" Dean said.

"But they've got alien weapons! We should be safe now!" Adam said.

"Yeah, and you said the same thing about the damn stairs. Are you sure you're a genius? Coz nothing coming out of you is any kind of smart," Dean replied. The Dalek came around the corner into the room and turned toward them. "We're out of here, come on." He grabbed Rose and Adam.

"It was looking at me!" Rose exclaimed.

"Yeah, it wants to slaughter us!" Adam said.

"It was looking right at me!"

"So? It's just a sort of metal eye-thing, it's looking all around!"

"I dunno, it's like there's something inside, looking at me, like it knows me." Rose's voice was steady but fearful.

"Let's not find out why, Baby Spice. Now run," Dean ordered.

"On my mark…" The men all pointed their weapons at the Dalek. Its eyestalk turned up to the ceiling. They began shooting, but it was unfazed.

"We've got vision!" Goddard announced. The men looked up to the monitor to see the Dalek taking fire. The Doctor stiffened and Sam stood.

"It wants us to see," the Doctor said. The camera zoomed in on the Dalek. The Dalek began levitating in the middle of the room. Sam was slightly surprised. The Doctor wasn't. The Dalek shot the fire alarm and the sprinklers came on. Water on the floor…

"Oh no," Sam murmured.

"What? What is it?" Goddard asked.

"Do you know what it's doing, Sam?" the Doctor said, turning to him.

"It's gonna fry them," Sam said. The Dalek fired a bolt at the ground and confirmed Sam's answer. The men on the ground screamed as they burned in their armor.

"Fall back! Fall back!" The Dalek shot the metal catwalks and the men on them were killed too. Sam swallowed hard; he hated being right. Van Statten and Goddard stood in stunned silence. The Doctor looked at the floor, shoulders slumping.

"Perhaps it's time for a new strategy," Van Statten said. Sam and Goddard turned to him. "Perhaps we should consider abandoning this place-"

"Except there's no power to the helipad, _sir_. We can't get out," Goddard said acidly.

"You said we could seal the Vault," the Doctor said suddenly. Van Statten walked over to the computer and sat in front of it.

"It was designed to be a bunker in the event of nuclear war. Steel bulkheads close off the air-"

"There's not enough power!" Goddard interrupted. "Those bulkheads are massive!"

"We've got emergency power, we can reroute that to the doors," the Doctor replied.

"We'd have to bypass the security codes, that'd take a computer genius!"

"Good thing you've got me then," Van Statten said.

"You wanna help?" the Doctor said in disbelief.

"I don't want to die, Doctor, simple as that," Van Statten answered. "Nobody knows this software better than me." The monitor came to life again, but only Sam was watching.

"Guys," he said. The others turned to the monitor.

"I WILL SPEAK ON-LY TO THE DOC-TOR," the Dalek declared. The Doctor, who had been leaning on the desk next to Van Statten, stood slowly.

"You're gonna get rusty," he said.

"I FED OFF THE D-N-A OF ROSE TY-LER. EX-TRAP-O-LATING THE BI-O-MASS OF A TIME TRAV-EL-LER RE-GENER-ATED ME."

"What's your next trick?" the Doctor asked coldly.

"I HAVE BEEN SEAR-CHING FOR THE DA-LEKS."

"Yeah, I saw!" the Doctor said, coming around the desk. "Downloading the Internet. What'd you find?"

"I SCANNED YOUR SA-TEL-LITES AND RA-DI-O TELE-SCOPES!"

"And?"

"NOTH-ING," the Dalek admitted. "WHERE SHALL I GET MY OR-DERS NOW?"

"You're just a soldier without commands," the Doctor said.

"THEN I SHALL FOL-LOW THE PRI-MARY OR-DER. THE DA-LEK IN-STINCT TO DES-TROY! TO CON-QUER!"

"What for?" The Doctor asked angrily. "What's the point?" The Dalek had no answer. "Don't you see it's all gone? Everything you were, everything you stood for."

"THEN WHAT SHOULD I DO?" The Dalek sounded like it was actually lost. Sam frowned. What was this Dalek up to?

"All right then. If you want orders, follow this one: kill yourself," the Doctor said.

"THE DA-LEKS MUST SUR-VIVE!" The Dalek retorted angrily. How the hell did a metal robot have emotions?

"The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth! Why don't you just _DIE!"_ Sam took an unconscious step away from the Doctor. There was silence for a moment, and then the Dalek said:

"YOU WOULD MAKE A GOOD DA-LEK." The words hit the Doctor like a slam in the gut. He backed away, shock blooming on his face as the screen switched off again. He looked at Sam, who couldn't answer him.

"Seal the Vault," the Doctor said finally. He sat with Van Statten at the computer.

"I can leach power off the ground defenses and feed it to the bulkheads. It's been years since I've had to work this fast!" Van Statten said.

"Are you enjoying this?" the Doctor said.

"Doctor, Rose and Dean are still down there," Sam reminded him.

_We're still running- it'd be too much to ask that the elevator works! _ Dean thought as they climbed another flight of stairs. Rose's phone started ringing.

"How do you have reception?" Adam asked. Rose picked up her phone.

"This isn't the best time!"

"Where are you?" Dean could hear the Doctor's voice as he ran behind Rose.

"Level 49!"

"You've got to keep moving, the Vault's being sealed off at level 46!"

"Three floors! Lovely!" Dean groaned.

"Can't you stop 'em closing?" Rose asked.

"I'm the one who's closing 'em. I can't wait and I can't help you. Now for God's sake, run!" the Doctor ordered. Rose kept her phone up while they ran. Dean glanced down once to see the Dalek.

"Doctor, it's on our tail! Two floors down!"

"I know."

"We're nearly there, give us two seconds!" Rose shouted as they ran through the hallway. They didn't see a door for another few moments, though, and when they did, Dean could see the steel that was closing. _Damn it, if they hadn't stopped every five minutes_…

Adam was first, running as fast as he could. This kid musta been a sprinter in high school. Rose was lagging behind, clearly tired. If Dean had to guess, she'd already done some running before showing up here. Dean was following her as Adam shouted for them to hurry up. Dean could be running faster, but he was going to make sure Rose got through. No way in hell was he leaving someone behind to be Dalek-dust…okay, certain people he would, but not Rose.

When Adam reached the door, it was almost closed. Dean knew they weren't going to make it. Shit. Adam managed to roll under the steel before it hit the floor, but Rose and Dean found the door completely shut. Dean slammed his hand against the cold metal. Rose just stared at it.

"The Vault is sealed."

The Doctor got up from his seat.

"Rose, where are you?" he asked. "Rose, did you make it?" He heard her inhale and there were terrified tears in her throat.

"Sorry, was a bit slow," she answered quietly. The Doctor froze. No. Not Rose. He'd already lost everything else, he couldn't lose Rose too.

"What about Dean?" Sam said softly. The Doctor didn't dare turn, because he knew what Sam's face was going to look like. It'd probably look like his own.

"Is Dean with you?" he said.

"Yeah. He was right behind me," Rose replied. There was a quiet addition from Dean. "He said to tell Sam he's sorry too." The Doctor looked at Sam as the tall man's face fell.

"No. No," he muttered.

"It's the end, Doctor, but it's not your fault. Remember that, okay, it wasn't your fault," Rose said. "And you know what? I wouldn't have missed it for the world." They heard the Dalek screech.

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

"Dean!" Sam shouted. A zap and the Doctor ripped his earpiece off.

"I killed her," the Doctor said softly. "I killed them both."

"I'm sorry," Van Statten said. The Doctor turned to him.

"I said I'd protect her," the Doctor said. "She's only here because of me, and you're _sorry_? I could have killed that Dalek in its cell. But you made me leave."

"It was the prize of my collection!"

"_Your collection_?" the Doctor yelled. "Well, was it worth it? Worth all those men's deaths? Worth _Rose_? Let me tell you something, Van Statten, mankind goes into space to explore, to be part of something greater."

"Exactly!" Van Statten injected, standing. "I just wanted to touch the stars!"

"You just wanted to drag the stars down and stick them underground underneath tons of sand and dirt and label them! You're about as far from the stars as you can get!" The Doctor's anger simmered down and e tore his gaze from Van Statten. "And you took her down with you. She was nineteen years old."

Dean had seen the Dalek coming. While Rose was giving her last words to the Doctor, Dean shielded her, wrapping himself around her in hopes that when he went down, the Dalek wouldn't notice Rose was still alive. It was a long-shot, but hey, Dean got out of hell once. Rose buried her face in his chest, trying not to cry in fear.

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" Dean shut his eyes, waiting for it to kill him.

But it never did. They stood there for a few minutes, until Rose lifted her head and Dean opened an eye. The Dalek was just sitting there.

"Go on, then, kill us," Rose spat. The Dalek didn't move. "Why are you doing this?"

"I AM ARMED. I WILL KILL. IT IS MY PUR-POSE."

"What are you waiting for?" Dean demanded.

"They're all dead because of you! Why are we different?" Rose added, pulling away from Dean.

"THEY ARE DEAD BE-CAUSE OF US!" The Dalek declared. Rose froze.

"And now what?" she said, shaky. "What're you waiting for?"

"I FEEL YOUR FEAR," the Dalek said.

"What do you expect?" Rose replied angrily.

"Daleks don't feel anything but hate," Dean said. "It doesn't understand _fear_, it's probably just mocking you-" The Dalek shot above Dean's head and he shut up. Rose yelped.

"DA-LEKS DO NOT FEAR! MUST NOT FEAR!" The Dalek shot on either side of the two. "YOU GAVE ME LIFE! WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU GIVEN ME?"

"Son of a bitch, you mothered a Dalek," Dean muttered.

"I AM CON-TAM-INATED!"

Dean was dead.

Dean was dead _again._

Sam was running his hands over his face. What was he going to do without Dean? He couldn't face the world on his own, not after everything Dean had done for him- oh, Jesus, what would he tell River?

Sam's thinking was interrupted when Adam entered the room. A fury rose in him suddenly. He whirled on the kid, grabbing him and slamming him against the wall.

"Hey!"

"You sure were quick to leave Dean and Rose down there, weren't you?" Sam growled.

"I'm not the one who sealed the vault! It's not my fault!" Adam squealed.

"No, but I'd bet good money you were the one to get them down there, you cowardly little-"

"Put him down, Sam!" the Doctor commanded, suddenly at Sam's side.

"Why should I? You got to crucify Van Statten-"

"Adam didn't have anything to do with the Dalek and you know it. Now put him down," the Doctor repeated. Sam released his grip on Adam and the slightly terrified boy slid down on the wall. Sam looked at the floor.

"If I had just let you kill that Dalek, Dean and Rose would be alive right now," he said softly. The Doctor was going to reply, but the Dalek's grating voice silenced him.

"OPEN THE BULK-HEAD OR ROSE TY-LER AND HER COM-PAN-ION DIE!" Sam and the Doctor turned to see the Dalek pointing a weapon at both Rose and Dean.

"Dean!" Sam breathed gratefully.

"You're alive!" the Doctor said in shock.

"Can't get rid of me," Rose replied, clearly still afraid.

"I thought you were dead," the Doctor said.

"Nope, still kicking," Dean answered.

"OPEN THE BULK-HEAD!" The Dalek screeched again.

"Don't do it!" Rose cried.

"WHAT USE ARE E-MO-TIONS IF YOU WILL NOT SAVE THE WO-MAN YOU LOVE?" The Dalek jeered.

"Sam, I swear if you let the Doctor let this metal douche out, I'll kill you!" Dean shouted. "You know this ugly robot'll kill everything on the planet!" The Doctor turned to Sam.

"I killed her once. I can't do it again," he said.

"Can we take the Dalek?" Sam asked.

"It doesn't matter," the Doctor replied. Sam didn't get in his way as the Doctor went to open the bulkheads. The steel rose and Dean cursed up a blue streak.

Rose tried to ignore Dean's string of swears as the Dalek marched them down the hall past the bulkhead.

"THE MALE WILL CEASE THE STREAM OF NON-SENSE!" the Dalek ordered.

"Oh, no, I pissed off the talking trashcan!" Dean snapped.

"Dean, let it go," Rose said. "We don't know why it hasn't killed us and we don't want it changing its mind."

"What do we do now, you bleedin' heart? What the hell do we do?" Van Statten turned to the Doctor.

"Lay off, Van Statten, or I'll beat the Dalek to the punch," Sam threatened.

"We'll kill it when it gets here!" Adam suggested.

"All the guns are useless and all the alien weapons are in the Vault!" Goddard replied.

"Only the catalogued ones," Adam said. They all gave Adam a long stare.

No one saw the man with the nameplate Watson come back into Adam's office.

Watson had been spotted by Dean Winchester when he snatched a weapon from the office. He'd been staying away from the action, fiddling with the weapon until he made it shoot a hole in the office of a man named Simmons who had, in the course of events, become the Dalek's first victim. Watson didn't know this, however, he just knew he had to fix the weapon and put it back in Adam's office. More importantly, no one else could see him. No one was supposed to see him with the weapon at all, but Dean would hardly remember the occurrence after the Dalek.

As Watson reburied the weapon in the stack of alien hardware, he heard footsteps and a Northern accent approaching. Watson set the hardware down carefully and hid himself behind a shelf of alien chronometers.

"It's just in here," Adam said as they entered. He led the Doctor to the cart where the newly-repaired weapon was. There was another set of footsteps, though, and they continued to wander as the Doctor rifled through Adam's weapons.

"Broken…" A weapon was cast aside. "Broken…" Another hit the floor as the third set of footsteps came to the hidden Watson's shelf. "Hairdryer…"

"Seriously?" Ah. Sam Winchester. Watson should have guessed from the footfalls it would be the enormous man on the other side of his hiding space. "Why do you keep all those anyway?"

"Mr. Van Statten tends to dispose of his staff, and when he does, he wipes their memory," Adam said. "I kept this stuff in case I needed to fight my way out one day."

"You in a fight? I'd like to see that," the Doctor said. Sam snickered, but something caught his interest and he paused. The hidden man held his breath.

"I could do," Adam insisted.

"What are you going to do? Throw your A-levels at them?" the Doctor suggested. "Oh, yes." The Doctor discarded another broken weapon and picked up the repaired one. Watson smirked. "Lock and load. Good job with this one. Excellent repair work."

"But I didn't touch that one," Adam said in confusion. The Doctor paused. Sam turned away from the shelf to look at him.

"Then who did?" Sam asked.

"It's a mystery we don't have time for now," the Doctor replied. "Sam, come with me. Adam, stay safe." Sam and the Doctor headed out the door. A few minutes later, Adam also left. Watson let out a sigh. Now to wait.

Dean, Rose, and the Dalek rode the elevator together. Rose was less scared than she had been. Dean was now considering this the weirdest hunt of his life- besides Gabriel sticking him and Sam in TV land.

"I'm begging you, don't kill him," Rose said. "You didn't kill me-"

"BUT WHY NOT?" the Dalek demanded. "WHY ARE YOU A-LIVE? MY FUNC-TION IS TO KILL! WHAT AM I? WHAT AM I?"

"Is the giant R2-D2 having a friggin' existential crisis?" Dean said. "What the hell, man…" The elevator doors opened and Van Statten was standing right there, looking like he shit himself.

"Don't move! Don't do anything, it's beginning to question itself!" Rose ordered. The Dalek left Dean and Rose in the elevator while it approached Van Statten.

"VAN STAT-TEN. YOU TOR-TURED ME. WHY?" Van Statten began backing up and the Dalek followed him.

"I wanted to help you- I just- I don't know- I was trying to help- I thought if we could get through to you- if we could mend you- I wanted you better. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I swear, I just wanted you to talk!" Van Statten was against the wall. If he hadn't shit himself by this point, Dean'd give the guy a friggin' medal.

"THEN HEAR ME TALK NOW. EXTERMINATE." For a hunk of metal, this Dalek had a lot of attitude. "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" Rose ran over to the damn thing before Dean could stop her.

"Don't do it! Don't kill him!" she insisted. The Dalek's eyestalk swiveled to her. "You don't have to do this anymore. There must be something else, not just killing. What else is there? What do you want?" The Dalek's eyestalk turned to Van Statten for a moment, then swung back to Rose.

"I WANT…FREE-DOM." Ok, Dean had to admit he did not see that one coming.

Sam followed the Doctor as they raced back up the stairs.

"Why hasn't it killed them yet?" Sam asked.

"I don't know, but we'd better find it before it changes its mind. I've read about your brother, he'll anger it in no time," the Doctor replied.

"Don't I know it," Sam agreed. "But what about the gun?"

"It'll work, I checked!"

"Why though? All those weapons were broken! How did you find the one that works in the first place you looked?" Sam said.

"Not now, Sam, we've got to save Rose and Dean!"

Rose, Dean, and the Dalek entered the empty hangar on level one. The Dalek gazed up and shot a hole in the ceiling, making Rose and Dean jump. Sunlight came pouring in as the rubble fell.

"You're out," Rose said, turning to the Dalek with a smile. "You made it." She looked back at the new window and its warmth invigorated her. "Never thought I'd feel the sunlight again."

"HOW DOES IT…FEEL?" The Dalek asked. Rose looked at Dean, who shrugged. The Dalek began to whir and the two humans stepped back. Something clicked and the base of the Dalek's dome split. It opened to reveal this strange squid-like creature encased in the metal. Rose and Dean stared at it. It had one big eye and what looked like a human brain sticking out of its head.

"So… you're not a robot," Dean muttered.

"Shut it!" Rose said in a hush. One of the creature's tentacles lifted towards Rose and the sunlight. Did it want her to touch it? Or did it just want to feel the sun?

"Get out of the way!" The Doctor's voice came from behind Rose and she turned to see him holding a big gun. Sam was next to him.

"Dean!"

"Sam, I told you not to let this damn thing out!" Dean growled.

"Rose, get out of the way now!" the Doctor repeated. He was shaky as he pointed the big gun in her direction.

"No! Coz I won't let you do this!" Rose replied.

"Rose, do you know understand what that is?" Sam said.

"That thing killed hundreds of people!" the Doctor added viciously.

"It's not the one pointing the gun at me," Rose said.

"It _was_!" Dean argued.

"I've got to do this. I've got to end it," the Doctor insisted. "The Daleks destroyed my home, my people. I've got nothing left!"

"Just look at it," Rose pleaded, turning back to the Dalek. It was still feebly reaching out to the sun.

"What's it doing?" Sam asked curiously. He looked to the Doctor for an answer, but the Doctor didn't have one.

"It's the sunlight. That's all it wants," Rose said.

"But it can't," the Doctor said.

"It couldn't kill Van Statten, it couldn't kill Dean and it couldn't kill me. It's changing," Rose persisted. "What about you, Doctor? What the hell are you changing into?" The Doctor lowered the weapon. He turned to Sam and Dean, who both shrugged unhelpfully.

"I couldn't- I wasn't…" The Doctor sounded like he was about to cry. Rose wanted to hold him, but she didn't go to him. "Oh, Rose. They're all dead."

"WHY DO WE SUR-VIVE?" the Dalek asked. Its voice sounded different with the casing open, less mechanical.

"I don't know," the Doctor replied.

"I AM THE LAST OF THE DA-LEKS."

"You're not even that," the Doctor said. "Rose did more than regenerate you." Rose turned to the Doctor again. "You've absorbed her DNA. You're mutating." The Doctor actually looked sorry for the Dalek.

"IN-TO WHAT?" the Dalek wanted to know.

"Something new," the Doctor answered. "I'm sorry."

"Isn't that better?" Rose asked.

"Not for a Dalek," the Doctor said grimly.

"Daleks are bred to hate and kill. Human emotions are like poison," Sam added. The Dalek moaned pitifully.

"I CAN FEEL…SO MANY IDEAS…SO MUCH DARK-NESS…ROSE…GIVE ME OR-DERS. OR-DER ME TO DIE." Its yellow eye pierced her as she shook her head.

"I can't do that," she said.

"THIS IS NOT LIFE. THIS IS…SICK-NESS…I SHALL NOT BE LIKE YOU! OR-DER MY DE-STRUCT-ION! OBEY! OBEY!" the Dalek cried. Rose felt a hand on her shoulder and saw Dean was beside her.

"It's better for him if you do it," he said softly.

"OBEY!" the Dalek begged.

"Do it," Rose complied.

"ARE YOU FRIGHT-ENED, ROSE TY-LER?" Rose hesitated, tongue fumbling in her mouth.

"Yeah."

"SO AM I…EXTERMINATE." The Dalek closed its eye. Rose and Dean hurried away from the Dalek towards the Doctor and Sam. The Dalek's armor closed again and it rose into the air. The little gold orbs from the base of the Dalek flew out of their sockets to make a sphere around the Dalek. An energy field sprang into existence from the orbs, surrounding the Dalek. The Dalek glowed and the light grew with a bang. The sphere filled with light until it suddenly shrank out of reality in a blink.

And the Dalek was gone.

The Doctor and Rose stood outside the TARDIS. Sam and Dean had gone to get something from Goddard but promised to return to say goodbye. The Doctor was quiet, reflecting on all the memories that had resurfaced today. He ran his hands over the TARDIS.

"A little piece of home," he mused. "Better than nothing."

"Is that the end of it? The Time War?" Rose asked.

"I'm the only one left," the Doctor said. "I win." He couldn't keep the bitter sarcasm out of his voice. "How about that?"

"The Dalek survived," Rose said. "Maybe some of your people did too." The Doctor shook his head.

"I'd know. In here." He tapped his temple. "Feels like there's no one."

"Well, then, good thing I'm not going anywhere," Rose replied.

"Yeah," the Doctor said. Sam and Dean came up the hallway.

"Doctor, do you remember what I was saying about that weapon?" Sam asked.

"You're still harping on that?" the Doctor said.

"Yeah, Sam here gets a little obsessive sometimes," Dean said. "But this time he was right. You'll wanna hear this."

"Right about what?" Rose said.

"The gun I had earlier. It was the only working one in Adam's office," the Doctor said. "Sam thought it was suspicious."

"And I was right. Goddard let me look at the security footage from Adam's office after she ordered the soldiers to wipe Van Statten's memory and fill this place with cement-"

"Wait, what?" Rose interrupted. "Wiping memories and cement?"

"Never mind that. But get this: when you were Adam's office, Dean saw a guy break in and steal that weapon. That guy spent the whole Dalek rampage fixing it, then put it back where the Doctor found it just before we got in there," Sam said.

"Really?" the Doctor said. Sam nodded.

"He was in the office the whole time we were. He was hiding behind a shelf."

"And not one of you noticed him," Dean said. "Twenty-nine years of hunting and you can't find a guy hiding behind a shelf."

"I was kind of focused on saving your sorry ass," Sam replied.

"Do you know who the man was?" the Doctor asked.

"No, but I got the footage for you. I thought you might know him- or need to," Sam said, holding out a DVD. The Doctor accepted it and put it in the pocket of his jacket.

"Thank you, Sam. I have to say, meeting the two of you was a real honor- though I wish the circumstances were better." Sam and Dean both smiled, a mix of pride and gratitude on their faces. They really had looked up to him, hadn't they?

"An honor?" Rose repeated, surprised.

"Of course! There's a reason I keep working on you to read the Winchester Gospel," the Doctor answered. "These two are legends!"

"It's about you?" Rose said in disbelief, turning to Sam and Dean. "My God!"

"Yeah, we ran into some angels and there was a prophet named Chuck…it's kind of a long story," Dean said. The PA system crackled.

"_If you don't want to be forever encased in cement with all the alien junk, please leave the base immediately. Cement pouring commences in five minutes._"

"Junk?" the Doctor repeated with disgust.

"Crap, Sam, we gotta burn rubber," Dean said, making a face that told the Doctor he was imagining being covered in cement.

"You'll never make it up in time. You should just come with us," Rose said.

"Are you inviting people into _my_ TARDIS?" the Doctor asked.

"You're the one who's such a big fan of them," Rose shot back. The Doctor had to smile at that.

"True. What do you say, boys, can we give you a lift?" The Doctor turned back to the Winchesters. Sam was shocked. Dean was…not thrilled.

"I don't know, Doc, I'm not big on flying," he said.

"It's nothing like an aero plane, I promise," the Doctor said.

"Dean, it's the _TARDIS_. It's the coolest thing in the universe," Sam said. "This is like the one incredibly weird thing in our lives that doesn't at least partially suck!" Rose gave the Doctor a look while Sam pleaded with Dean.

"Okay, fine! We'll go," Dean said. "It's not like we have much choice at this point…" Sam grinned. Dean looked as though his brother hadn't smiled like this in a while. If they were when the Doctor thought they were, he probably hadn't.

"All right, everyone in. Don't want to become a part of the architecture," the Doctor said. He opened the door and went inside his TARDIS. Rose followed him up to the console, where he turned to watch the Winchesters enter. The Doctor had to admit, he loved watching people witness the old girl for the first time. The Winchesters were no exception; though they knew what was coming, it still shocked them how impossibly vast the TARDIS interior was. Sam's grin went slack with awe. Dean's eyes widened and his face, previously set in mild annoyance, dropped into an expression of wonder. That's always what happened; seeing all the beauty in the TARDIS, even the hardest being reverted to that state of the innocent child, filled with awe and wonder. It was the most beautiful thing in the universe- _well_, the Doctor amended when he turned to see Rose enjoying the Winchesters' reactions, _maybe it's _one_ of the most beautiful things…_

Watson, having seen his work gone to waste, left the compound in a huff. He ripped the helmet off and threw it to the ground. His sweaty black hair clung to his head despite the slight wind.

"Problem, soldier?" a voice asked. It was a deep female voice with what sounded like a British accent, rife with intelligence and mischief.

"I fixed the damn weapon," Watson replied, the American accent vanished in favor of a British one. "It worked perfectly."

"And?"

"He didn't use it! The Dalek destroyed _itself_!"

"So everything worked out. Why are you upset?" the woman asked.

"I don't see why you hired me to make sure the weapon worked if you knew he wasn't going to use it," Watson said acidly. "Do you enjoy wasting my time?"

"Oh, it wasn't a waste, dear, I can assure you," the woman replied. "The Doctor needed the weapon to work. He had to think he could kill the Dalek…so he _wouldn't_ kill it."

"That doesn't make any sense, River!" Watson insisted, turning to her finally. The woman's merry blue eyes met his cold ones. Her untamed golden curls flew in the hot desert breeze, which didn't distract her.

"You'll understand eventually, Sherlock," she replied. "But let's get you back to chasing Moriarty's men, shall we?"


End file.
